Have you ever tried to find a book that would explain, in a scientific, tested but also reader-friendly way, all the intricacies of nutrition, diet, and their impact on your health?

Search no more.

The China Study book, available e.g. here is a thorough source of information, written by nutrition researchers that will improve your understanding of this topic and most likely influence your food choices and habits.

Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.

This seemingly inconsistent statement reflects one of the most obvious, yet powerful truths about human nature: our future is shaped not only by skills, education, resources, circumstances, luck, etc. but to a high extent by our perception of what we think is possible.

No amount of preparation, support, planning or external help will help, if we internally tell ourselves that we are incapable of something.

And no impediment can stand in a way of a person that knows what they want.

So next time you find yourself asking: “Can I really do that?” – think twice before you answer. Because YOU WILL determine your future.

Every day we are making dozens of health-related decisions when we choose what we eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, during coffee break or as an afternoon snack.

It is quite trivial to say that those little decisions have enormous impact on every aspect of your health, including your daily energy levels, concentration, weight, risk of chronic diseases and overall life expectancy.

In reality, most of us follows habits we acquired many years ago, that are even more reinforced due to lack of time, busy schedules at work, easy access to junk food and often lack of awareness.

The truth is, we can and should avoid excessive consumption of sugar, fat, alcohol, meat and processed products in general.

There are so many alternatives to those unhealthy snacks and habits:

Why don’t you try a fresh orange juice tonight, instead of a sweet cola (check out this inspiring book by Joe Cross describing how to reboot your life with fruit and vegetable juices)

At work try getting an apple or a banana instead of the chocolate bar you got used to eating

Reduce the amount of meat you eat to 2-3 days per week – instead of eating it everyday

Next time you go out with friends order a salad or sushi, instead of this burger you always choose

In your kitchen or living room keep always a bowl of fresh fruit and nuts so that you can easily grab them when you want a little snack. Throw away all the sweets and sweet drinks that you have accumulated all over the house

Next time you celebrate birthday, bring a bag of fruit to the office – instead of the usual pack of sweets

Try to apply those ideas for 4 weeks – you will see gradually that it is actually possible, quite tasty and you should start see first improvements in how you feel and the energy levels you have. If you make those rules your routine, you will see an overall improvement of your health and various blood and body parameters.

The most important step to a truly permanent change is to realize that you have control of your habits and through that over you whole life and future.

Many people associate happiness with a state of “doing nothing”, however the truth is that the most authentic moments of happiness take place when we are busy, working hard, deeply emerged in something that we find interesting, fully focused and committed.

This state of consciousness is often referred to as ‘flow’. I think we all remember those moments of creativity and passion. I would strongly recommend a book titled “Flow” (available here) by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who created the psychological concept of flow.

An experiment for you: next time you realize you have just been in a state of flow – try to make a mental snapshot of how you feel, your emotions, level of happiness and inner peace.

There is a shockingly simple answer, attributed to Leo Tolstoy, presented below:

If you want to be happy, be.Leo Tolstoy / Kozma Prutkov

It might seem trivial or oversimplified, but try to ponder on it for a while. You might quickly realize that it is the most honest and pragmatic pieces of advice one can get to break the vicious circle of waiting for happiness to come from the outside, instead of triggering and discovering it within ourselves.

When was the last time you had this uplifting feeling of accomplishment and awareness that you achieved some form ofperfection, or in simple words ‘did a good job’?

This could have been at work, school, home, when solving some difficult design problem, or simply sorting out some home duties. Or maybe you discovered something new, found a solution to a problem, improved or created something, optimized some process, got rid of some inefficiency, in other words made your life, home, friendship, project, product or even the world a bit better?

We believe such moments are a quintessence of happiness. That’s when your reality seems to flow, without distractions, in the right direction bringing this amazing feeling of fulfillment.

And now an experiment for you: next time you feel in this way, try to make a mental snapshot of that situation, try to memorize when and how it happened, what emotions and thoughts it triggered, also make a note or photo if possible. That snapshot will be your recipe and template for generating and attracting your future moments of happiness. Because happiness means action.

True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new. (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

Over the years, we have been discovering and studying ways to achieve happiness, well being, work/life balance and true satisfaction. Through this experience we have identified a set of core principles, which we formulated as Happy·ciency Manifesto.

While we see many ways to achieve happiness, we value the ones listed in the Manifesto more. Many philosophies and approaches focus either on the body, senses or spirit – we claim that happiness at its core means action and commitment in various areas.

We can all choose to be happy and along the way find the best way to achieve that – often by being positive, open, curious, social, health-conscious, productive and ambitious in achieving various goals.